Wires
by BrieQuafflepuncher
Summary: After being kidnapped by Death Eaters and forced into slavery, Hermione Granger escapes and goes to the burrow after 3 years.  She learns how everything has changed drastically since she was taken from her life.
1. Chapter 1

Hermione Granger was losing a lot of blood. She was staggering through the Malfoy Manor with her hand clutched to her bleeding side as she strangled for a way out. She heard the footsteps echoing around her, but she couldn't place where they were coming from. The elegant grey castle walls seemed to close in on her as she fell face-first into the cold cement.

With a desperate look over her shoulder, her eyes met Bellatrix Lestrange as she gave her a evil smile. Hermione reached into her boot and pulled out her wand, she apparitiated to the only place her memory could stagger for.

* * *

><p>Hermione woke up gasping, she was leaning against the cold wall of a alley. Her eyes traced around her and she let out a sigh of relief. She had escaped. And in her sights, she could see the burrow. She began to drag herself near the steps, and she mustered the energy to actually stand up and begin knocking.<p>

In mid-knock, she staggered once more, and the door flew open, she looked up into the eyes of Molly Weasley.

"Hermione!" Molly shrieked, "Ginny! Go call your father! Tell him its a emergency!" Molly bent down and threw Hermione's arm over her shoulder and helped drag her into the house and quickly kicked the door shut.

Ginny didn't even look in the room as she passed by, she didn't know Hermione Granger had arrived. She was dialing and talking and hanging up the phone in milliseconds. And before they knew it, their fireplace was releasing Arthur Weasley, with medicine decorating and stringing from his arms as he raced over to Hermione.

Hermione was rasping, her eyes were watering.

"Dear, it'll be okay." Molly reassured, "Ginny, go tell the boys to stay in their rooms, and tell them _not to come out_. Same goes for you!" Molly shouted.

"Mum, what is even going on?" Ginny mused to herself as she clambered up the steps.

Molly shot a worried look and then whipped out her wand and shut the living room door, locking it.

* * *

><p>Hermione's side was decorated with drops of medicine and bandages clinging to her side, and she felt like she could breathe again. Hermione could even stand up straight without feeling any pain, she was almost good as new.<p>

"Hermione, how we've missed you." Molly said, throwing her arms around Hermione and hugging her tightly, "It's been so long." Tears prickled her eyes.

Hermione hugged her back, "I've missed you all. After the war, I thought everything would fall into place.. I never expected.. to be kidnapped by Bellatrix Lestrange and the death eaters." Hermione felt tears slide down her face.

"You're so strong, my dear." Molly said, pulling away from her and wiping the tears off her face with her thumb.

Hermione swallowed hard and gave her a worn smile, "I am a Gryffindor after all, aren't I?"

"Of course you are." Arthur said, finally giving up his tough-guy mask and hugging Hermione, "Everyone was so torn up when you went missing."

"What do I do now?" Hermione choked out, "I don't have anywhere to go."

Molly laughed, "Hun, did you really think you couldn't stay with us? How about I take you up to the guest room, or, your room now, and get you washed up for dinner? You must be starved."

Hermione nodded, sensing the absence of food in her stomach, "That sounds good."

Molly led Hermione up the staircase and took a sharp left and then they walked down a winding hallway full of pictures of Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George. Hermione's throat choked up at Fred's picture but she continued to walk after Ms. Weasley. She opened the door at the end of the winding hallway to reveal a room with white walls and a black rugged floor, with black and white pictures clinging to the wall. Hermione walked over to the bedside to see a picture on her bed stand, it was her, Ron, and Harry.

"Was this always here for me?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, they've been waiting quite a long time." Molly sighed, "But anyways, right through here is the wash room, and through this closet is your clothes. Whenever we had extra money we'd buy you clothes so that when you came back.. you'd be prepared."

Hermione nodded, "You've been so thoughtful.." Her throat clenched.

Molly smiled, "We never gave up hope on you Hermione."

Hermione glanced down, smiling, "I ought to take a shower now, I reckon I'm quite a mess.."

Molly nodded, "I better get out of your way then!" She stifled a laugh and left the room. Hermione walked into the bathroom that was painted a light purple and a light blue bathroom towel hung by the shower.

Hermione turned the water on hot before stripping off her clothes and climbing into the shower and washing all the dirt and muck off of her and out of her hair.

When she stepped out, she felt refreshed as she wrapped the towel around her.

* * *

><p>She padded out of the bathroom and walked over to the closet, looking at all of the clothes they had kept for her. She glanced down at her skinny frame and then back at the clothes, they seemed as if they would fit.<p>

She grabbed a gray shirt with the words, "_live like you're dying_" imprinted on them followed by a design behind the words. The shirt hung so that it almost fell off her shoulders with the long sleeves that nearly reached her elbows. She pulled on black skinny jeans and pinned her hair up in a bun.

She turned around to see herself face to face with..

_Ronald Weasley_.

"It's you, it's really you." Ron breathed, and Hermione was in shock as her mouth fell open.

"It's me." Hermione confirmed, feeling tears threaten to brim over.

The two flung at each other, Hermione crying madly and Ron trying to keep in sobs as the two embraced.

"Ron! What did I tell you about disturbing her?" Molly snapped as she entered the room.

"I'm sorry." Ron said, pulling away from Hermione, "I had to know she was real."

Molly rolled her eyes, "Of course she's real Ronald!"

Ron turned back to Hermione and Molly took this as her signal to leave.

"Are you okay?" Ron asked, stroking the side of her face.

It was the first time someone had even asked her that question, she swallowed hard.

"I'm trying to be okay, I really am." Hermione nodded to herself, "Seeing you makes it all better..easier."

A tear falls from his eye, and he quickly wipes it away, "Just..you're alive." He breathes, hugging her to him again, his breath on her neck.

Hermione nods, wrapping her arms around him too, "I can't believe you're still here."

"Me neither." Ron said, sniffling, "We all waited for you, we knew you'd come back."

* * *

><p>Ron went down to dinner and left Hermione to herself for a few moments before she began to descend down the staircase.<p>

"Is that?.." She heard gasps and the scrapping of chairs as they pushed back from the table.

"Hermione!" Harry Potter shouted, running over to her and throwing his arms around her, "You..you're alive!"

Ginny also joined the hug, hugging tightly, "Hermione!"

George Weasley got up from the table and hugged her also, "You're so brave."

"Oi!" Ron said, standing up from the table, "Let the girl breathe, will ya?" Ron said, pulling out a chair beside him, "Here you go Hermione."

Hermione escaped the hugs and sat by Ron, "Well, you know how to treat a girl don't you." She says to everyone at the table as they return to their seats.

"Tell us everything." Harry demands.

Hermione glanced over at him, "It began at the end of the battle..."

* * *

><p><em>Hermione Granger was excitedly skipping through the now-empty halls of Hogwarts as everyone outside rejoiced, she had escaped to have a moment to herself. Everything was going perfectly, the world would now launch into peace. Nothing would go wrong.<em>

_That was, until there was a sack over her head and excited death eaters rejoiced as they apparated._

_"HELP!" Hermione screamed, she screamed until her voice was raw, and she screamed harder._

_"Shut her up, will you Bellatrix?" One of the men shouts._

_"No problem." Bellatrix answers,taking the sack off Hermione's head, "Well lookie here, we got ourselves a mudblood boys." Bellatrix turns to laugh with the boys, and then, Hermione is backhanded._

_Hermione cries out, her eyes stinging and red and flaming with hate as she stares at Bellatrix._

_"Harry Potter's little mudblood." One of the men jeers._

_Hermione cries._

* * *

><p>Everyone is silent by the end of the story.<p>

"I need to go." Hermione chokes up, standing up from the table and going upstairs to her room.

"Look what you've done Harry." Ginny snaps, slapping him on the arm, "You've gone and upset her!"

Hermione, curled up in her bed, tears welling up in her eyes.

She heard her door crack open, "Please go away." She croaks.

Then suddenly there is movement in her bed, and she finds herself face to face with Ronald Weasley once more.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: The beginning of a long fic everyone! Fasten your seatbelts!**


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione Granger woke up, she didn't want to - yet she did. The nightmares had hit her so abruptly last night, she had felt as if she was trapped once more.

_"Well this is a pretty little wand isn't it?" Bellatrix Lestrange cackled, walking around the chair Hermione was bound to by rope in, "How about I keep it? For safe keeping, you know. Once we get all of the mud out of your blood.."_

Hermione saw Ronald Weasley's still frame next to her, breathing peacefully, she gently stroked the side of his face. He never looked more peaceful then he did at the moment.

"Mione?" Ron groaned, his eyes cracking open.

Hermione offered him a dry smile, "Right here." She stated.

Ron hooked a arm around her waist and pulled her close to him, "Thought it had been a dream." He breathed in her scent, "But you're still here."

Molly Weasley suddenly burst into the room, "Morning dear! - Oh Ronald, you're here.. anyways, I just came to tell Hermione.. well.. I suppose both of you, that breakfast is ready."

Hermione flashed a hot bright red, certain of what Molly's mind was jumping to when she saw Hermione and Ron in bed together.

"That'd be lovely, Mrs. Weasley." Hermione pulled herself out of bed, feeling a tad strain in her back from multiple bruises, she just gritted her teeth and kept her composure.

* * *

><p>Hermione arrived at the breakfast table to see Ginny, Harry, Mr. Weasley, and George, sitting at the kitchen table eagerly eating. Each of them looking up when she entered the room. Hermione couldn't help but feel like a museum exhibit.<p>

"Morning Hermione!" Harry beamed, getting up from the table and placing a light kiss on her cheek, "Nice sleep?"

She nodded, "It was fine."

_Nightmare ridden was more like it._

"Oh dear, I forgot to tell you, someone from the Ministry wants to talk to you about what occurred at the Malfoy house." Molly said, placing a plate of pancakes in front of Hermione.

Hermione swallowed hard as the memories forced their way back, the knife against her throat, the cold words as the knife gently teased the blood out of her.

"Why?" Hermione quickly asked, trying to push back the memory.

"Dear, these things don't go unpunished anymore." Molly patted Hermione on the shoulder, "You'll be fine."

Hermione glanced down at her plate, wishing that she could vanish, "What if I don't want to talk to them about it?" Hermione asked.

Molly paused for a moment, "That's perfectly fine.. but I was..thinking that you'd want..justice."

"I just want to forget." Hermione bit her lip.

If there was something Hermione Granger wasn't, the girl sitting at the table was it. She wasn't Hermione anymore, she was a broken scared girl left in Hermione Granger's place. The real Hermione would have stomped her foot down and demanded justice, but her willpower and drive seemed to disappear.

"Is there anyone we should get you to talk to, Hermione?" Molly asked, sitting across from her, "It's awfully sad to see you so locked up about this."

_Locked up._

_Hermione Granger woke up in a cold cell, she struggled against her restraints and tried to find her wand, but remembering Bellatrix had stolen it previously. She was cold, sad, and most of all - alone. She didn't hear the sound of fighting or screaming, she didn't hear a savior with ginger hair coming to rescue her._

_She heard the silence of her own breathing and crying._

_She could feel herself breaking._

"It's just, really hard at the moment." Hermione clenched her fork tightly, "I'm just, still getting used to the feel of seeing the sun again."

Molly offered her a sad smile, "Ronald, why don't you take Hermione out for Butterbeers? It'd probably be nice for her to see Hogsmeade again."

Ron smiled at Hermione, "I'd be absolutely delighted."

"Well that's great then, how about you both head upstairs and take a shower and get dressed? Best not to look like you just rolled out of bed, I reckon." Molly gestured for the two to go upstairs, Hermione's breakfast untouched lay on the table.

Hermione went upstairs and took a hot shower, becoming painfully aware of how thin she had gotten. She poked her ribs, she could see them perfectly clear, and she could feel each bump as she ran her fingers along them.

_"Girl, you've gotten so small. Almost all the mud is out of your blood, delightful." Bellatrix Lestrange cackled, "Much better than before."_

Hermione shuddered when the memory hit her so fast.

She couldn't live like this.

She stepped out of the shower and found some clothes, a nice pink sweater and blue jeans would have to do. It didn't appear as if the other clothes would even fit on her, they would probably just swallow her up.

Hermione put on a belt also, to make sure the pants didn't try to slide down.

She left her room and found that Ron was already waiting for her by the door.

"Hey Hermione. Ready?" His eyes looked her over.

Hermione nodded, "Yes, got my wand and everything." Hermione's eyes seemed to flicker with light when she added the 'my wand' part.

_Bellatrix was torturing Hermione, but the other Death Eaters seemed to believe that Bellatrix was becoming too brutal with her, which made Hermione flush. It was just her and Bellatrix in the room, Hermione could spot her wand in Bellatrix's boot, she just had to get the right position.. Hermione finally ripped her wand out of Bellatrix's boot and cursed her, racing out of the room at top speed. Where could she apparate to? The burrow. The thought hit her so hard, it almost propelled her off her feet. Seeing Ronald Weasley again would be quite the adventure in itself. _

_She could hear Death Eaters desperately charging after her, curses flying through the air, some whispering past her ear. She finally apparated and found herself in a cold street alone, she began to run as if her life depended on it. Spitting out the address to the Burrow to whoever would bother to listen to the frantic Gryffindor. When she got the directions she needed, she head out._

Ron and Hermione began to walk down the street, Hermione carefully assessing everything. Ron wasn't sure if she was being cautious or curious.

"It's been amazing to have you back, you know. Georgie is thinking about coming up just to see you, reckon he might bring Angelina too." Ron put a hand through his ruffled hair.

"He doesn't need to go to the trouble for me-" Hermione began, ready to launch into reasons why he shouldn't bother.

"Mione, it's been years since he's last seen you. He isn't going to let this chance pass him by now." Ron grinned.

Hermione just smiled to herself, "It has been years, actually. Do you have anyone that fancies you?" She asks, trying to mask the question out of curiosity and not jealousy.

Ron just chuckles, "If I did, I'm absolutely oblivious. Far as I know, when girls look at me they see a demented potato, I reckon."

"A demented potato?" Hermione laughed, "Did you have to think that up? As far as I can see, you're remotely attractive." She flushed when she said the last part.

"Remotely?" Ron asked her, a smile creeping across his lips.

"Well what exactly do you want me to say?" Hermione said, a teasing tone in her voice, "Would sexylicious bad ass work better?"

Ron finally let the smile embrace his face, "I like that loads more, actually. Duly noted that you've taken up swearing."

Hermione laughed, "I'm not the one who says 'bloody hell' all the time. It's practically your catch phrase."

Ron laughed with her, "Do I need to mention the time when getting expelled was worse than us getting killed? 'We could get killed, or _worse_, expelled!'" Ron made a poor imitation of her voice.

"My voice was not that squeaky!" Hermione protested.

"Whatever you say Hermione."

"Bu-" She started.

"Hermione, we both know you had a really high pitched voice, don't even try to play games with me, woman." Ron winked at Hermione.

Hermione laughed, "Woman? Wow Ronald, at least it wasn't vulgar language."

"Sexylicious badass, isn't vulgar language?" Ron inquired.

"It's more tamed." Hermione than tried to make a impression of Ron, "Bloody hell! I swear, you said that at least a zillion times while we were at Hogwarts."

Ron ruffled his hair, "There was a lot of 'bloody hell' moments at Hogwarts! In case it surpassed you, we _fought a troll_, defeated a dark wizard, and went through loads of Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers, I also forgot to mention that we have Fred and George."

Hermione smiled, "Okay, that seems like a fair argument."

"Score 1 for the Ginger." Ron laughed.

Ron duly took note that Hermione was _smiling_, and she finally seemed happy after being trapped in the Burrow for days on end in her room. Afraid of the world.

_If I ever find those Malfoys, I'm going to kill that lot._

Ron thought to himself, but he let that thought lay in the back of his mind.


End file.
